Stair-carpet sweeper.



No. 864,125. V PATENTED AUG. 20, 1907.

J. W. ELLIS.

STAIR CARPET SWEEPER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.28, 1906.

JOHN W. ELLIS, or PORTLAND, MAINE.

STAIR-GARPET SWEEPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 20, 1907.

Application filed November 23,1906. Serial No. 345,532.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. ELLIs, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Portland, Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stair-Carpet Sweepers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of carpet sweepers in which is employed a rotary brush journaled in a box which acts as a receptacle for the sweepings and the object of my invention is to construct a sweeper of this class which will be adapted to be used for a stair carpet sweeper.

With this end in view I form the box or casing with an open forward end in which is journaled the rotary brush operated bya crank located at the side, with ahandle on the top of the box by which it can be conveniently handled and an opening through which the contents may be discharged.

I illustrate my invention by means of the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a stair carpet sweeper constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same and Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a portion of the sweeper showing a modification in the manner of operating the brush.

In the drawing A represents the box which is here shown as open at the forward end and tapering back toward the rear, the large end of the wedge forward. A handle a is secured to the top of the wedge-shaped box by which it can be easily handled in sweeping stairs and the like. The rotary brush B is joiu'na-led in the box at the open end thereof so that the brush can work up against a vertical wall or partition like the riser of a flight of stairs. The brush is operated as shown in Fig. 1 by a crank handle 0 attached directly to the end of the brush shaft.

Means are provided for discharging the contents of the sweeper and, as here shown, I provide at or near the rear end on the top, a hinged cover D which is held normally closed by a spring. As here shown, the spring e. is secured to the under side of the top of the box and it has a rear end which extends through an eye in the lower end of the bracket d on the under side of the cover D. The spring is lifted and the cover opened by a rod 9 which has an eye on its lower end and through which passes the spring 6 and on its upper end it has an operating knob f. The rod 9 extends vertically through an opening in the top of the box and the knob on its upper end is located immediately beneath the handle a so that it may be grasped by the fingers while the hand is holding the handle 0. Thus, to discharge the contents of the sweeper the fingers simply grasp the knob f, lift the spring e and open the cover D which permits the sweepings being emptied out. When the knob is released, the cover closes.

When the handle is directly attached to the shaft of the brush as in Fig. 1, the hands come quite close to the vertical portion of the stairs and to covercome this objection in some forms of my device I construct it as shown in Fig. 3, where the operating handle is located some distance back from the brush and the open end of the box.

In this construction I pivot the crank handle back and connect with the brush shaft some suitable form of intermediate gearing. As here shown, I place a gear '5 on the brush shaft, a gear k on the crank handle and an intermediate gear j between the two. Thus the handle is brought back to a point where it will not interfere with the risers of the stairs or the base boards of rooms when it is used in angles or corners of rooms.

A carpet sweeper constructed after this manner can be readily handled and the brush can be forced into the angles of the stairs, cleaning them out thoroughly. It can be used for sweeping small sections of carpet taking up small patches of dirt or it can be used as a dust pan after an ordinary broom has done the sweeping.

I claim;

1. The herein described carpet sweeper consisting of a box, a rotary brush journaled in said box, means for rotating said brush, a handle on the top of said box, a hinged cover at the rear of said box, a spring for holding said cover closed and means operated by a knob beneath said handle for lifting said spring and opening said cover.

2. The herein described carpet sweeper consisting of a box, a rotary brush journaled in said box, means for rotating said brush, a handle on the top of said box, a hinged cover at the rear of said box, a spring secured to the top of the box on the inside and having its rear end engaging said cover to close the same and a vertical rod extending through the top of the box having its lower end engage said spring and having on its upper end a knob located beneath said handle.

3. The herein described carpet sweeper consisting of a box, a rotary brush journaled in said box, means for rotating said brush, a handle on the top of said box, a hinged cover at the rear of said box, a spring secured to the top of the box on the inside and having its rear end engaging said cover to close the same and a vertical rod extending through the top of the box having at its lower end an eye through which said spring passes and having at its upper end a knob located beneath said handle.

JOHN W. ELLIS.

Witnesses:

S. W. Buns, ELEANOR W. DENNIS. 

